Biomarking Time

Women live longer than men. Individuals can appear or feel years younger – or older – than their chronological age. Diseases can affect our aging process. When it comes to biology, our clocks clearly tick differently.

In a new study, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues elsewhere, describe markers and a model that quantify how aging occurs at the level of genes and molecules, providing not just a more precise way to determine how old someone is, but also perhaps anticipate or treat ailments and diseases that come with the passage of time. … Read the full story from the UCSD Newsroom

Trey Ideker, PhD, is co-senior author of the study report. He is professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Medical Genetics, professor of bioengineering and faculty investigator in the UCSD Institute for Genomic Medicine.The overall goal of Ideker’s work is to map and model molecular networks of cellular processes in health and disease, particularly in cancer and the response to genotoxic stress.